//MERRY CHRISTMAS: WE ARE STILL FREE

December 24, 2011

“America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”*Alexis de Tocqueville*

Have you seen the panic? Have you felt the despair? Is your mind troubled about the uncertain future? Be not afraid, there is no need to panic or make decisions based on fear. Merry Christmas, we are still a free people.

Like Ronald Reagan I am an optimist. I believe in Americans, and I believe that there will always be a free people in this country. The Constitution of the United States may hang by a thread, but it is a strong thread connecting free men and women with the God who made them free. Though it seems tenuous at times, our Constitution gleams with a bright spark of Divine inspiration. Our founding documents, being inspired by the Mind of God, are more clever than the enemies of the republic. Despite the pounding and shredding of many of the basic tenets of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, they continue to protect us. We still own our most basic possessions; our lives, our property, our voices, our choices, our right to worship, and the overriding right to defend them all.

The signers of the Declaration of Independence all pledged their lives to the cause of liberty. When they signed the Declaration they may have thought they were signing their death warrants. They pledged their blood, and likely expected to shed it. But not one of those men lost their lives as a direct result of battle with the British. Some were captured and tortured for their roles as signatories to the Declaration of Independence. Nine of them lost sons to the Revolutionary War. Some had their homes and treasures ransacked. But they were not outright murdered by their adversaries. Their honor has only been magnified through time. And their treasures, if lost, were replaced with that sufficient for their needs. We too are protected as the the necessity for a Revolution of the 21st Century grows ever greater.

Over 20,000 Americans gave their lives to fight the British tyranny. Those lives sacrificed literally changed the world forever. I don’t minimize the threats from despots and tyrants who now threaten our country from abroad, and from Communists and Progressives, and saboteurs within our own social institutions, government, and political parties, but we will not give up our freedom. It is impossible to quench the flame of human liberty once it is lit. America’s Military is not a conquering force. It is the bearer of the torch of freedom. Never before have we conquered a foreign nation and taken it as our own. Countless American lives have been sacrificed in wars, some which we won, some which we lost, to secure freedoms like those we enjoy, for people who have nothing to offer us but friendship.

As Christmas Day nears, I ponder my faith in God, and in His holy Son, Jesus Christ. My heart brims with gratitude to God that He gave me the privilege of being born an American. I am also thankful, though sometimes burdened, by the responsibility He gave me to fight to keep this country free and prosperous. As Christ freed His people from the chains of death and damnation, so too will He give us the strength to defy the chains of slavery to Big Government, and evil ideologies, within and without, who hate us and covet our treasures and our freedoms and who want to destroy the blessings we enjoy as Americans. Living in Western Colorado, near the Colorado river, nestled between the mountain’s majesty and the splendor of the high desert, I know that this is God’s country. I also know that America is God’s nation.

May God bless the men and women who have returned from Iraq to join their families in celebration and prayer. May God protect and guide the men and women in Afghanistan who undertake their precarious duties to extend the promise of liberty to people with whom they have little in common, except for the human longing to live free and prosper. May our men and women in uniform who have pledged to protect and uphold the Constitution, with their lives if necessary, feel the gratitude of all Americans. May our veterans and those whose wounds are deep, both seen and unseen, enjoy the healing warmth of our love and friendship. May the invigorating Light of Christ shine down on all who have offered their blood in the holy cause of freedom.

Let us reflect upon these things. Moments of panic steal our personal peace, but it can be retrieved through humble and constant prayer. The greatest power we have in life is what we choose to do with our hands and to what causes, good or destructive, we devote our time. Gordon B. Hinkley, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in 2001, “Our safety lies in the virtue of our lives. Our strength lies in our righteousness. God has made it clear that if we will not forsake Him, He will not forsake us.”

As the Star of Bethlehem was a guiding light to the Wise Men who sought the Son of God, so let us be a ray of hope and optimism to Patriots who are looking for a happier future in America, and our brothers and sisters in far countries who still yearn to be free. Hope burns bright, man will not easily become enslaved. We are still free to worship. We are still free to love our neighbors. Merry Christmas, we are still a free people.

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